Wireless mobile technology has become widespread and is utilized for both personal as well as business uses. Mobile devices such as telephones, pagers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), data terminals, and the like, are designed to be carried by those who travel from place to place in the daily course of business, for personal reasons, or for both business and personal reasons.
The appeal of mobile devices is due in large part to the convenience of having such devices available regardless of where the user may be located (e.g., at home, at work, traveling, out of town, and so on). In such a manner, users can easily stay “connected”. These computing devices can be accessed at almost any time and place and can contain a tremendous amount of information relating to people, organizations, general interests, and other items. Electronic storage mechanisms have enabled accumulation of massive amounts of data. For instance, data that previously required volumes of books for recordation can now be stored electronically without the expense of printing paper and with a fraction of the physical space needed for storage of paper.
There can be a proliferation of incoming communications (e.g., email, text messages, phone calls, and so forth) and a single individual can receive hundreds of communications in a single day. With this enormous amount of incoming information, it can be difficult to determine which communications are important and should be handled in a reasonable amount of time compared with those that are not as important and can be disregarded for a while. Additionally, the individual receiving the incoming communications has tasks and other duties to perform and might not have much time available for reviewing each incoming communication.
There is a growing trend for users to manage different devices for different functions, roles, or personas. A first device might be utilized for work applications (e.g., a work persona) and a second, separate device might be utilized for personal applications (e.g., a personal persona). For example, a worker might have a mobile business phone and a mobile personal phone. If the worker is conducting an activity relating to their employer, the mobile business phone is utilized. If, however, personal communications are being made, the mobile personal phone is utilized. Thus, those individuals that maintain sharp distinctions between their personal life and their work life must carry duplicate devices, which can be cumbersome as well as costly. Additionally, the user can have duplicate addresses, phone numbers, and so forth, which can make supervising the various incoming communications not only complex but also time-consuming.
While performing one function or role the individual might not maintain communication links associated with the other functions or roles. That is to say, while at work the individual might not receive personal communications and while not at work, the individual might not receive work-related communications. For example, an individual can have two or more email aliases; one related to their function as an employee (e.g., myname@mycompany.com) and the other related to their function as a private individual (e.g., mycode@personalsuff.zxy). If the individual is not at work and an important email (or other communication) is sent to this individual relating to an emergency at work, the individual would not receive the email until the work device is monitored and the work communications reviewed. This can cause problems or consequences that can, at times, be undesirable.